The fair valley of Rivendell Notecard

Tolkien painted this watercolour to illustrate the first American edition of The Hobbit. He made five drawings of Rivendell and two preparatory sketches of Elrond’s house before arriving at this composition. It illustrates perfectly the hidden location of the Last Homely House, nestling in the deep cleft (the riven dell) carved out by the river. ‘His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Evil things did not come into that valley.’

Printed in the UK for the Bodleian Libraries with kind permission of The Tolkien Estate Limited.

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